Wednesday, 6 March 2013

Low Fat Lasagne

So, here's a not very well kept secret: lasagne is basically Spaghetti Bolognese, served differently. So, I didn't use a set recipe for this, instead I used knowledge from previous recipes (the soup is my sister's addition) and the bolognese recipe as a base.

This is a slightly decadent version but it still only comes out at 11PP per person, and the portion sizes were OBSCENE. After my first portion, I divided the remaining 3/4 into five portions. It's huge. It's really tasty, too - I always pack my tomato based sauces full of seasoning, I like them rich and full of flavour and so adding a cheeky glass of red wine into this means it really doesn't taste like a low fat meal!


Lasagne

Ingredients
6 x Fresh Lasagne Sheets = 11PP
4 sprays Frylight - 0PP
500g Extra Lean (5% fat) Beef Mince - 16PP
1 Stock Cube (Veg, Beef or Chicken) made with 200ml hot water - 1PP
1 carton Passata - 0PP
1 can chopped Tomatoes - 0PP
1 can low fat Mushroom soup = 4PP
100g low fat cheese = 7PP
1 tbsp Sweet Chilli Sauce = 1PP
Glass of Red = 3PP
=43PP (11PP per serving based on 4 portions, 7PP based on 6 portions)

Whatever vegetables you like! I used:

1 large Onion, chopped
1/2 large Courgette, chopped
1 red & 1 yellow Pepper, chopped
7 mushrooms, chopped
3 sticks celery, chopped
=0PP

Seasoning - again, go nuts! I used:

2 cloves garlic
2 tsp smoked Paprika
3 tbsp balsamic vinegar
2 tbsp artificial sweetener
Pinch of oregano, rosemary, basil
1/2 tsp chilli
Salt & Pepper
=0PP

To reduce points - bulk out with more vegetables, use Quorn mince (12PP for 500g), cut out the red wine or sweet chilli sauce, or use less cheese

Make the tomato sauce as you would Bolognese, which I'll go over again:
1 - Use a large saucepan or a wok and spray with FryLight, then add the mince and cook over a high heat. Don’t stir immediately, as you want the meat to really brown on the base, so give it a few moments – then turn to sear and brown on all sides.
2 - Add everything else and cook for 30 minutes with the lid on to enable the vegetables to soften.
3 - Add any further seasoning you fancy, stir it all up and then leave for 5-10 minutes with the lid off to bubble away and to reduce down. It might look sloppy but it will reduce a lot if you leave it to bubble, so just let it do its thing and it'll go lovely and thick.


Assemble your lasagne:
1 - Using a large, rectangular oven-proof dish and spoon about half of the tomato meat sauce onto the bottom, completely covering it.
2 - Layer 3 of the lasagne sheets over the top.
3 - Spoon the other half of the tomato meat sauce over the sheets, completely covering them.
4 - Layer another 3 lasagne sheets over the top.
5 - Spoon the can of mushroom soup (undiluted) over the lasagne sheets, completely covering them
6 - Sprinkle cheese on top.
7 - Place in the oven at 180c for 30-35 minutes.


Yum! The best bit was, when eating the leftovers I had a few nights where I had a couple of points left over, sooo... extra cheese it is! Hooray!

When I make this again, I plan to cut it into 6 portions but am tempted to increase the cheese and the soup. If I doubled both it would still only be 9PP... definitely the way forward!

4 comments:

  1. Ooh, lasagne isn't usually something I fancy but seeing this is making me crave it! :)

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  2. Using the soup as a quick sauce is a fab idea - thanks for the tip!

    Sx

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  3. Man that's massive for 11 points! I make my lasagne with cottage cheese, but really feel I need to give this mushroom soup thing a go!

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